Meet Our Puppy, Oscar Danger Balch

We adopted a puppy! (That deserves all the exclamation marks!!!!!)

He is supposedly a Bernese Mountain Dog mix — mixed with what, we don’t know. He’s a pretty chill dog for the most part and super snuggly with bouts of puppy playfulness. And bunny hops! Oh, the bunny hops.

I was in bed, unable to fall asleep, looking again at the recently listed dogs on Petfinder (something I had been doing a lot lately). He and his siblings had just been become available that day at a nearby clinic that works with the Humane Society and I immediately sent an email saying “I know it’s the middle of the night and nobody is there, but we’re interested in this dog and we’ll be there first thing in the morning!” The kids had the day off from school, so we were all able to drive over, fingers crossed that the pup was still available. He was! We spent some time getting to know him, then filled out an application and hoped we would be approved.

Murray was such an awesome dog, and we were all heartbroken when he died last year. I would look at pups up for adoption and research breeds all the time right after we lost him, and I realized I didn’t want another dog yet, I just wanted Murray back. Any other dog would only be compared to him in every way to see how he did or didn’t measure up, and that’s not fair. I think I was the last in the family to come around to feeling ready for a new dog with their own distinct personality.

We started looking in earnest to add another dog to our family a couple of months ago, but we weren’t finding the the right fit. There was the dog I fell in love with online who was adopted the evening before we went to see her. There was the dog that seemed great until he kept seeking out Calvin specifically to tackle him. And then there were the dogs in shelters that don’t adopt to families with kids under 6, or to homes with a cat, or to homes that don’t already have another dog to “show him the ropes.” It was frustrating at times, even while understanding why they have the rules they do.

We had certain qualities in mind that we were looking for (and looking to avoid), and I was hoping that our patience would be rewarded. I’m convinced we hit the jackpot with Oscar! I’ve never had such a young puppy before, but Brandon has and we’re in a great position to take care of one with both of us being at home throughout the day. I will say that we are tired though! The little guy is only 8 weeks old, so we’re taking him out every two to three hours for bathroom breaks, including overnight. We also read a lot of articles from mypetneedsthat.com to understand how handle a puppy.

He was neutered on Monday, came home with us Wednesday, and goes back to the vet tomorrow, but he’s not getting his stitches out for another week after that. Luckily the e-collar does not seem to bother him (bonus: it exaggerates his cute puppy clumsiness as he wobbles his way around the house).

The name, you ask?

• Brandon and I have both always liked the name Oscar, but I said no to it each time we had a boy because there was already an Oscar Balch of Oak Park / Frank Lloyd Wright fame.
• Danger? My middle name is Danger.
• The initials are ODB.

So yeah, I said no to Oscar Danger Balch as a child’s name. But as a dog’s name? It’s pretty perfect.

We’re in love.